


Corona Borealis

by WhiteSky1999



Series: Pandora's Cluster [1]
Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, Friendship, Gen, Prologue for a long fic, Reincarnation, get on for a long ride
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-10 04:39:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12904260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteSky1999/pseuds/WhiteSky1999
Summary: In a future where the Earth is in shambles and a Second Holy War is taking place, four teenagers meet by chance and a strange spark appears between them. They would know about their fate three years later, but for now, they were just survivors in a world where danger lurked around every corner and where everyone could be an enemy.





	Corona Borealis

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So, this is the longest fic I've been writing for a while, and surprise surprise, it's a sci-fi one. It was a diferent universe at first, but then I got this idea. This is just the prologue, the fic itself will be posted some time this month. I hope my motivation doesn't disappear, I really like this fic.

Gold.

As far as he could see, there was an endless sea of gold.

The sky was a soft blue that disappeared behind… were those trees?

There was a voice in the distance, but he didn’t turn around. 

It got closer, demanding his attention, words muffled, even though there was only the noise of the golden swaying with the calm breeze.

His vision blurred when he managed to turn on his heels, and suddenly, he was staring into furious eyes that gleamed gold in the darkness. 

He tried to back away, but he was paralysed and he could only watch as a blade glinted when it slashed him.

He gasped in pain, pain,  **pain** and he reached out with his trembling hand, red, red,  _ red _ and he stumbled and fell, fell and  **_fell_ ** , until his back collided with a hard surface and he could only whimper as he writhed in pain, _ pain _ ,  _ fuck _ , it hurt so bad, let it  **end** .

His eyes opened and his hand came up to his chest, heaving, heartbeat echoing in his ears and only managing to get him even more nervous. He clenched the shirt he was wearing in his fist, struggling to sit up in the cold floor. His other hand felt around until he could use the sofa to prop himself up and he collapsed again on the sofa, trying to gulp between his erratic breathing. 

Another dream. It had been a while since the last one. Even more since the last time he’d remembered what happened in it. He still couldn’t make sense of them. Every time it happened, he forgot about most of what happened in them the moment he woke up, usually in a cold sweat and too close to having a panic attack than he was comfortable with. But, even since he started traveling around with Cross, he could recall certain details about them, which only left him even more confused. Yeah, since he started going around with that womanizing bastard… 

“Stupid Cross…” he mumbled and, with great effort, managed to get on his feet without falling back on the sofa. It was a good thing, he mused, because he would really panic if he fell back, just like in that dream. He grimaced. “Don’t think about it.”

He stumbled into what would be the kitchen, if half the electrical appliance wasn’t missing or broken beyond repair. He had to punch the fridge on one side so it would run again, so he made a mental note to take a look at the fuses when he went out on his usual errands. 

The apartment was dingy at best, in ruins in some parts (one of the bedroom’s wall was covered in deep cracks from which the outside wind came through, so he was worried about the storms), dirty and the building itself was half abandoned. He knew that there was a little family of three at another apartment, but he didn’t know anyone else. And, frankly, maybe it was for the better. 

Cross and him didn’t really stay in one place for more than a few months. For everyday that they passed in one place, the chances that they’d get caught in an attack grew. And that was the last thing they needed.

He sipped cold milk from a battered mug he had found under a table the day before while he thought over what he needed to do that day. He could go to the darkest part of town, see if someone was up for an exciting game of poker, where he could strip them of their money. If he was lucky, he could find someone with a nice enough wallet. For what he’d heard, an important meeting was taking place the following day in the repaired congress. Ha, they had enough money to repair useless buildings, but not enough to help those people in the millions of shelters all around the world. Pathetic.

He snorted and finished his milk, leaving the mug in the rusty sink. He walked slowly to the bag where he had his few belongings and fished some clean clothes. He left them on the bathroom and went back to the heater, glaring at it and fiddling with it.

“Are you going to work with me today?” he growled and he squinted, trying to make out the numbers through the cracks. 

He showered quickly, because he was not in the mood to have his water turn freezing cold on him suddenly and he wanted to get to the store before those thugs went and raided it like the previous week. He really needed to put some food in the fridge. Cross was missing again, but he, Allen, did live there.

He tried to tame his messy auburn hair and only huffed when it stayed like always. So, he took his keys (even if he didn’t really need them) and left the apartment. When he looked over the fuses, he found out some of them were burnt. He thought of buying new ones, but decided that it wasn’t worth it. They were going to leave that place soon enough, anyway. Better save the money.

The streets were mostly calm, and there were no thugs in sight, so Allen let his shoulders relax somewhat. He fiddled with the keys in his pocket while he walked, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. He looked at the ruins around him, a solemn expression on his face. Manchester, or what was left of it, at least, was a pretty quiet town. London was louder, more dangerous, if only because there were a lot of official meetings there and various rebels were used to go there to protest against whatever the heck they were discussing in those meetings. 

He didn’t know too many details, but he knew that the Government was too authoritarian, focused only on the “Holy War”. The world was mostly destroyed, there were shelters everywhere, but even those were dangerous, poor, and people usually traveled all around, trying (unsuccessfully) to find peace. 

He had heard that the Earth before 2012 was beautiful, full of forests, trees, grass, with calm rivers and beaches where people went on holidays to relax. Allen couldn’t imagine something like that. There were only deserts, the few forests that still existed were decaying or being burned down because of the constant battles of the Holy War and disagreements between Government’s factions. He’d heard that the sea level had submerged some cities, several areas, and the temperatures had gone up to the point where coats weren’t needed anymore, anywhere.

Allen sighed and bought some food easily conserved, speed-walking out of the store when he saw a confident and flashy gang getting closer to it. 

He left the food at “home” and decided to do something useful with his day. He climbed the facade of the building until he was in the cracked roof. He was careful when he tinkered with the old wires, but he was pretty certain that he had managed to improve something. When he entered his apartment through the window again, he cheered when the fridge didn’t explode or stop running. 

It was already dark enough out by 11pm, so he jumped up from the sofa, put on his black hoodie and left the apartment again. Apparently, the other family in the building had managed to get a TV, because he could hear a cheesy dialogue through their door when he passed by it. 

He walked through some streets, hoping to not get lost this time, and managed to get to the darkest part of town. It wasn’t difficult to see some criminals there, some mafia people and even murderers. But Allen wasn’t in the mood to act the moralist; he was in search of money. He dismissed the first corner where a game was going on. He could recognize some people from one of the nearby shelters and, from what he knew, they didn’t have that much money to play with, so, hey, he was doing them a favour.

He lurked around, trying to recognize someone important or, at least, someone who looked like they were willing to bet a decent amount of money. If he could avoid guns, much better, but he wasn’t picky and he had good reflexes. 

He ended up playing with a group of people that were, Allen thought, too obvious with their mafia appearance. Really, it wasn’t weird to see people with tattoos nowadays (Allen himself had a large one of angel wings on his back) but their posture gave them away. That, and the shiny guns stripped to their bodies. Even so, Allen didn’t hesitate and won little quantities of money slowly, being extra careful not to tip them off.

It was half an hour later that things started going badly for him.

“Hey, hey, boy,” grunted one of them, fingers so relaxed that Allen had seen some of his cards. “Are you sure you’re not cheatin’?”

“Quite sure, yeah,” answered Allen and he smiled the perfect amount for it to be taken serious and, maybe, lower their guards. 

The leader arched an eyebrow. Allen was pretty sure he was drunk, which was weird, because alcohol was really hard to come by around that area. That was one of the main reasons for Cross to go MIA again, like a little child who didn’t have the toy he wanted. It pissed Allen off, but they’d had that argument too many times and they were both too stubborn for it to work.

“He has won quite a bit of money, though…” grumbled the leader and his hand twitched to his gun. Allen tensed his shoulders and his smile became pinched for a moment. 

As carefully as he could, he pocketed his winnings and left the cards on the table. There it went his beautiful Royal Straight Flush, completely wasted. It was going to be his last hand for the night (go out with a boom), but they just had to get all pissy with him. He sighed.

It was because of years of experience that he managed to get out of there with nothing more than a bullet grazing his hand. He ran, dodging people and tables and crates and he jumped over the metal fence he knew would lead him into one of the main streets. He hadn’t spent the first days in the city exploring the area for nothing. 

He could hear the guys yelling at him and swearing when they had to go around a building to follow him. He picked up his pace, jogging for a short time to catch his breath, before sprinting again and jumping over a bended railing, narrowly avoiding the sharp spike where it was broken. 

Allen looked over his shoulder, smiling and sighing when he could see the mafia men too far for it to be a problem. He stopped running and walked calmly towards an ally, gasping for air, still looking out for the men, just in case they intended to sneak up on him. He was almost certain that they-

Allen walked straight into someone, someone taller than him, alright, and his arms came up to push the person away, heart beating fast and panicked eyes darting to the person, now on the floor and grumbling in pain. He gasped for air again, hands up and body tense, ready to defend himself. Then he paused. 

“You’re… not one of those guys from the mafia, are you?” he asked, eyebrows furrowed with suspicion. The other, a man for what he could see, rubbed his head and looked at him, first angry and then confused. 

“Mafia? What are you talking about?” he asked and then he grumbled again and stood up, using the wall as support. Allen took note of his wild red hair, eye-patch and freckled face. “Ah, you know what? I don’t want to know. But, hey, maybe you could-?”

Allen’s eyes widened when he looked over the redhead’s shoulder and he dived for him, pulling both of the them to the floor. Bullets flew over their heads and punctured the wall behind them. Allen pushed the other to the wall and the redhead shouted a shocked “what the fuck, dude” before Allen took a pipe from the floor and threw it with as much strength as he could to the man who had shot them mere seconds before. 

“Move!” he yelled at the redhead when the pipe collided with the mafia man’s forehead and knocked him out for good. The body fell on the floor with a loud ‘thud’ and Allen could hear swears from around the corner. Okay, maybe the men weren’t that far, then.

“What?” yelled the other, but he let Allen heave him from the floor and drag him out from the alley. If they were lucky, maybe they could avoid the police officers that patrolled that area at that hour… yeah, no, they were fucked. “Where the hell are you dragging me?”

“I’m trying to save your ass!” he yelled back and jumped over some boxes. He felt how the redhead pulled on his arm, a yelp and a stumble, but he kept on running. He really hoped the guy was lucky, because if they needed to rely on  _ his _ luck, then they would probably end up dead and face-down in the acid water of the sea.

His hopes crumbled to dust when someone kicked his legs under him and he fell on the floor. The redhead’s arm slipped from his grasp and he swore that if the redhead didn’t move and run away from the scene, he was going to come find him and beat him for being so stupid, because, who didn’t run away when there was a mafia guy beating someone right in front of you? 

“Give me back my money, you fucking brat!” yelled the guy and Allen found himself laying on the pavement with a gun against the side of his head. He wanted to say that it was something new, but it wasn’t. 

“Hands up, all of you!” shouted someone else and Allen sighed heavily. Great. Just great, the police was there too. And it seemed like the redhead didn’t run like he was supposed to do.

And so, Allen found himself sulking in a cell at the police station, with three of the mafia guys at his side and the redhead trying to talk a police officer into letting him go because, c’mon, he was only dragged into it, he didn’t even know the guy. Allen sighed. This was going to be a long night.

“Okay, that didn’t work at all,” sighed the redhead and he plopped down at his side with a grunt. Allen rolled his eyes, but then he lowered his head, his auburn fringe obscuring his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he said in a soft voice. He felt how the boy turned to him, felt his curious eye on him. “I mean, for dragging you into this.”

There was a beat of silence, but then the other boy laughed, which resulted in the mafia men turning away from him, talking with each other in low angry tones. 

“It’s okay,” he said and Allen raised his head so that his bangs let him see the boy. He was grinning widely, almost too wide to be credible, and his green eye glinted under the too white light of the cell. There was something… familiar about him. As if he knew him from before. He knew him well… “It was probably my own fault, standing there like an idiot. Anyway, thank you. Ya know, for saving my life.”

Allen blinked, then he remembered how he had tackled the redhead to the ground to avoid the bullets. He smiled softly and he extended his hand. 

“Allen,” he introduced himself. The redhead stared at him for a second, grin gone, before smiling again, took his hand and shook it firmly. 

“Lavi,” he said. There was another pause between them, in which both of them listened to the police officers. Then Lavi sighed and laid back, crossing his arms and stretching his legs. “To tell you the truth, I was just looking for my grandpa. I lost him when we went to the congress and the old panda got caught up in some boring talk with one of those stuck up guys.”

“The congress?” mumbled Allen. Ah, yeah, the meeting. “What are they going to talk about there? Usual stuff?”

“For what I’ve heard, some scientists are gonna come here and talk about their projects and what not. The… International Council for Technological Advances, I think,” explained Lavi with a bored tone. Allen nodded distractedly. It was probably about those lightspeed spaceships. He knew that there was at least one, but it was treated like a conspiratory theory by the public.

The tone of the conversation between the police officers changed suddenly and Allen perked up. Lavi seemed to do the same, but his position remained relaxed and carefree, his single eye focused on the opposite wall. The door opened and Allen moved his head slightly so he could peek. 

There were two officers and one man who Allen could swear he’d seen somewhere, dressed in casual clothes. He was talking enthusiastically with the officers, moving his hands around, and Allen struggled to understand him through his… was that a chinese accent? He had almond-shaped eyes, so it was probable that he was from there. Then again, nationality was a past thing, because people usually travelled all around. 

“Do you know who he is?” asked Allen in a low voice. Even the mafia men had fallen silent. Lavi frowned and shook his head. 

Allen tried to get a better view, measuring his movements cautiously because he had noticed that his seat made a jarring noise whenever he moved too quickly. There was someone new, a girl, with long black hair tied into pigtails and carefully hidden boredom clear for Allen to see. He grimaced when he moved his leg to relieve it of his body’s weight and the seat creaked. The girl’s black eyes shifted quickly to him, surprised. 

Their eyes met, grey with black, and then she looked over to Lavi, who grinned at her. She only graced the other men with her calm gaze, now curious, before focusing on them again and she tilted her head to the side. Allen relaxed his shoulders, fiddled with his sleeve, and then smiled uncertainly in her direction. She smiled lightly back.

When the girl looked back at the other men, Allen frowned and lowered his head for a moment. That girl, like the redhead, gave him a weird feeling of familiarity. Even the other Chinese man gave a slight feeling like that but, weirdly enough, it wasn’t as strong as the one the girl gave him. It was as if he knew them, even though he was pretty sure he had never seen them before.

Allen sighed and laid back on the wall, closing his eyes for a moment. He was tired. His day had started so badly with that nightmare of his, it had left him really shaken, even if he pretended to not care about it and managed to busy his mind enough to not think about it. He opened his eyes slightly, enough so that he could make out some blurry shadows moving around. 

The people outside the cell stirred and Lavi shifted by his side, alert, so Allen blinked and shook his head to focus on what was going on. Apparently, the girl had said something that the other people couldn’t understand or make sense of, because they were questioning her, surprised expressions on their faces. The other asian man was looking at her carefully, and when the girl turned to him with a determined and unwavering gaze, he seemed to sigh but cave to whatever she had said. 

The man turned to the police officers, all cheerful smiles, and asked them something that made them look at each other with surprise. Then, one of them leaded the two strangers to… the cell they were in. Allen frowned and sat straight, fists clenched in his pants. He didn’t know if he should be suspicious or worried. But, the fact that the girl seemed so familiar…

“What exactly happened on the street?” asked the police officer when they were closer, voice tired. Allen could relate. Really, he could. He looked at Lavi, the redhead shrugged and gave him a lopsided grin, and then he turned to the officer with an arched eyebrow.

“Well, they attacked us,” he said softly, pointing at the men that had gone back to mumbling to each other on the other side of the cell. They didn’t notice any change, and Allen mentally cheered. He frowned, stood up and got closer to the bars. “Couldn’t you tell by the gun at my head?”

The officer frowned, clearly displeased, and took a step back. Allen kept his eyes on him as he turned on his heels and said something to the other officer, nodding to the two asian… siblings? Maybe? Allen could see some similarities between them. He felt the girl’s eyes on him again and sighed, tilting his head so they were facing each other. He gave her a tired and uncertain smile. 

“Do we… know each other?” he asked in a low voice. Her brother seemed to bristle, but then his gaze turned thoughtful. The girl paused, black eyes moving around the office, but when she opened her mouth to speak, one officer called out for them. 

Allen leaned on the bars, hands in his pockets. ‘Lee’, they’ve said. Sounded Chinese. Then again, he didn’t have any surname to go by, so he wasn’t one to judge. He gestured for Lavi to get closer and, when the redhead was at his side, he tilted slightly so he could whisper to him.

“I think we might be getting out of this,” he mumbled to him and the redhead only arched an eyebrow. Well, the only eyebrow visible, because the other one was hidden under the white eyepatch. 

Both of the officers came back to the cell and opened the door. The mafia men stopped their bickering and turned to them, surprised, before standing up with furious expressions and threatening the two young boys. Allen and Lavi hurried out of the cell and towards the two chinese siblings. The girl smiled softly while Allen kept his eyes focused on the other men as they argued over, he supposed, their release. 

“Well, I guess my work here is done, then,” said the chinese man, waving to the officers, now yelling at the men in the cell. One of the officers turned to him, eyes still ablaze because of the argument, but nodded and the chinese man grinned. “I’ll email you the details when I get back to the offices, don’t worry.”

He waved a cheerful hand at them and all but pushed the teenagers out the door. Allen looked back a last time and sighed. It was a pity. Those guys sure had enough money to help him through his stay at Manchester. Well, whatever.

“Lenalee, what were you thinking? What is all this about?” asked the man when they were in the outside. 

The street was empty, which wasn’t strange, because they were at the town centre and the Government was really strict with the curfew. Now more than ever, if there was going to be a congress the very next day. Allen could think of a fast way to get home from that place, and, even if he did get lost again, he could use his phone. Hacking the GPS station was something that Cross had been sure to ingrain in his brain from the first day.

Allen and Lavi stood there, uncomfortable, as the two siblings stared each other down. The girl was the first to sigh and lower her head. 

“I don’t know. I just…” she mumbled and looked at them, dark eyes confused but so familiar  _ it hurt _ . “I just felt like I recognized them.”

“You could have just seen them on the street, Lenalee,” sighed who Allen guessed to be the older brother. The girl, Lenalee, shook her head, too sure to be lying. 

“No, it was the first time, I’m sure,” she said and her shoulders fell. “I don’t know how to explain it. It’s as if…”

“We knew each other?” interrupted the redhead. Allen jumped and whipped his head to focus his eyes on him. Then he frowned. 

“You… feel it too?” he asked slowly. That not only the girl, but also the redhead, felt the same as him… he didn’t know what to do anymore. He had been trying to convince himself that it was because he was tired, that it could be the dream’s fault that he was disoriented, but…

Lavi nodded and the group fell silent. The confused silence turned awkward after a few seconds, until the older brother coughed into his hand.

“Well, anyway, I think you need to repay us for getting you out of there,” he said and Allen frowned at him. Was he really going to lose the money for which he had been nearly shot? He clenched his fists in his pockets. He could make a run for it, but something tied him to these people and it was so weird that his instincts faltered. “So, are you from here? Or, at least, do you know the area?”

“More or less,” said Allen, tilting his head to the side. He blinked. “Why?”

“Could you take us to the congress tomorrow?” asked quickly the older man. The girl sighed softly and a fond smile appeared on her face. “I’m part of the meeting, but I don’t know how to go, even though my hotel is quite near for what they’ve said.”

Allen considered him for a moment, mulling over his possibilities. Well, it could be worse. He had found the congress building when he had explored the town the first days of his stay, when Cross was still with him, bitching about what a shit town it was because they didn’t have wine. He could recall only two hotels in the area and he didn’t know exactly where they were, but, well, he could manage. He could hack the satellite if he couldn’t find it, he had experience after all, seeing as how he got lost everywhere. 

“Okay, I will guide you there,” said Allen and the man beamed. 

“Perfect,” he sang and Allen took a hesitant step back. That guy was weird, alright. “I stay at the… which hotel was it? The white one.” Oh, well, it helped that there was only one white hotel in the town. “We’ll meet up there tomorrow at 10, okay?”

Then he turned around on his heels and started walking to a car parked some meters away. Allen grimaced. He hadn’t even noticed it, he was really off. That was a mistake he couldn’t let happen. 

“I’m sorry about him,” said the girl and Allen turned his head enough to see her out of the corner of his eye. “My name’s Lenalee, and that was my older brother, Komui.”

“I’m Lavi,” replied the redhead and then he pointed at Allen, who was still looking suspiciously at the car, “and that’s Allen.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” said the girl and, with a last smile, she sprinted to the car, slammed the door and, seconds after, the car bolted down the road. 

There was silence between them, until Lavi yawned and slung his arm around Allen’s shoulders. Allen jumped and his hands moved to push the redhead off him, but he managed to catch himself just in time. He didn’t like to be touched, though, so he carefully got out of his grip, trying to hide how his hands trembled.

“Okay, that was weird,” said Lavi and Allen stifled a laugh. 

“Yeah, and awkward.” Allen yawned and started walking down the street, hands in his pockets. He made sure his keys were there, because he was too tired to break down his own door. He frowned when the redhead started following him. “What are you doing?”

“Following you,” replied Lavi and Allen was tempted to say “no duh”, but the redhead was faster. “I dunno where my grandpa is, and it’s probably a bad idea to look for an inn now, because they’ll be full, so, maybe, could I go to your house?” There was a pause between them, where Allen stared at him, surprised, and Lavi shuffled uncomfortably. Then he gasped. “Oh, God, you have a house or apartment or somewhere to stay the night, right?”

“I do have an apartment, yeah,” replied Allen, slowly, and he sighed. Really, he didn’t know what to do anymore. He wanted to sleep. Without creepy dreams, please. “But I don’t know if I should trust you.”

“Oh, even after all that ‘do we know each other?’ thing?” asked Lavi with a hesitant smirk. Allen huffed. 

“To tell you the truth, everything’s too weird for me right now,” he grumbled and turned a corner. He was close to his apartment, but he debated with himself if he should take a detour, just in case the guy was dangerous and he needed to run away without him knowing where he lived. He didn’t want to move out of the apartment; it was one of the few times when the apartment was at least decent enough to live in. “How do I know that this isn’t a ploy or something?”

There was silence for a few seconds and Allen almost thought that the redhead had given up, which sent an unpleasant feeling of disappointment and, maybe, longing through him. 

“I know that this is weird, and honestly, I feel the same way,” said Lavi softly, softer than anything he’d said until then, and Allen found himself turning around, frowning and trying to keep his eyes from closing. “But, you’ve felt it, right? There’s something between us. Not like, romantic or sexual or anything like that, just…”

Allen tilted his head back, looked at the dark sky. Not a lot of crafts flew around Manchester, but he’d seen some when he lived in some of the most populated and big cities in the world. They were the opposite of how the shelters or towns were like. Towns and shelters where poorer, surrounded or made up from ruins, but big cities where  _ expensive _ . Intimidating skyscrapers, green artificial parks, the newest vehicles and crafts and people dressed in the best clothes in the world. It disgusted him. 

He sighed. For some strange reason, he couldn’t say no to the redhead. He wanted to stay with him, as if he was an old friend. And he wanted to see the girl again, he wanted to spend time with her. It was weird. He had never felt something like that, he’d never had friends. It was always Cross and him. Even when he was a child, when he was in that orphanage, he’d always kept his distance with others. 

“I guess you can come with me,” he said finally. He could practically see how the redhead brightened. 

He guided them to the building and then up to the apartment in the 5th floor. He couldn’t hear anything coming from the other family but, then again, it was 1 in the morning. When he opened the door, some part of him expected Cross to be passed out on the sofa, back from whatever the hell he was doing, just to ruin everything like always. But, luckily, the apartment was dark and empty, and, most importantly, the fridge was still working. 

“Good apartment right here,” commented Lavi, looking at the cracked mirror in the bathroom. Allen hesitated for a moment, trying to remember if it was safe to turn on the light in the living room, before deeming it safe and flipping the switch. 

“Try not to turn on other lights, I don’t know if they’re safe or if they’ll explode on your face, so just… don’t,” explained Allen and took some cheese from the fridge. He closed the door carefully; he didn’t want to deal with a broken fridge. “I suppose you can sleep on the couch.” He munched on the cheese, fighting the need to pass out and gave Lavi a moth-eaten blanket that the redhead used to immediately turn himself into a human-burrito. Allen paused on the door to one of the bedrooms in best condition. “And, please, don’t kill me in my sleep.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, my saviour,” said the redhead from the sofa. Allen snorted and closed the door behind him. 

He was lucky and the lamp in the corner of the room worked well enough, so he changed into the worn clothing he used to sleep and collapsed on the bed.

He was still tired when he woke up, but he didn’t remember any weird dreams, so he supposed it was a good sign. His eyelids had somehow stuck together overnight, so he rubbed furiously at his eyes while he yawned. His jaw made a soft ‘crack’ and he sat on his bed. He didn’t even want to imagine the nest his hair had turned into. 

When he entered the living room, wearing fresh clothes, he could see (and hear) the redhead snoring on the sofa, so he left him alone and checked his phone. It was too early to go to the hotel, so he went into the kitchen to search around the cupboards for the cereal he’d bought the day before. He cheered silently when he saw the fridge still working. 

Lavi didn’t wake up once while he ate breakfast, and they’d be late if he didn’t, so Allen started shaking his shoulder in hopes of waking him up. He only turned on his side and gave a loud snore. Allen wrinkled his nose and grabbed his shoulder again. Then he paused. What did he do when Cross was too wasted on the day they were supposed to leave? 

Allen took hold of the other redhead’s arm and heaved him off the sofa and on the floor, but he didn’t budge. He shrugged. No time to be nice. He entered the kitchen again, picked a random glass and filled it with the icy water from the sink. He didn’t bother doing little noise when getting closer to his guest and he dumped the water on his head. The reaction was quick. 

Lavi sat up on the floor, yelling and trying to shake off the blanket around him, but he only managed to tangle himself up further. After he somehow got his head tangled in the mess, Allen took pity of him and helped him out of the yellowed blanket, snickering at him.

“We need to go to the hotel and meet up with Lenalee and Komui,” said Allen, following Lavi to the kitchen and handing him a mug. Lavi didn’t seem to mind the cold milk or, if he did, he didn’t say anything. “It’ll take us… more or less fifteen minutes to get there, if the hotel I’m thinking about is the right one.” 

At least, it would take them fifteen minutes if there weren’t any problems. 

They were lucky this time, contrary to the previous day, and arrived in time to the elegant hotel. Allen didn’t know when they’d rebuilt it, but it was too clean and untouched, it didn’t have any cracks like the buildings surrounding it and it left his stomach churning uncomfortably. 

Komui and Lenalee came some minutes later. Lenalee was wearing casual clothes, but Komui wore a simple suit and some documents under his arm. Allen spent all the way to the congress trying to figure out what they were, if they had any interesting information, but he only managed to get Komui to say that they were some projects that could change some things. 

Mistrust and a weird feeling of loyalty clashed inside him and he retreated into his thoughts for the final part of the journey, even when Lenalee and Lavi got into a cheerful chat, talking about the different places they’ve visited over the years. 

He guided the little group until they were in front of the intimidating congress some minutes later. The hotel was near it, but there were some ruins hiding one building from the other, so they had needed to take some turns. Allen found himself staring at the glass facade of the building, half listening to Komui telling Lenalee when they would meet each other later, half listening to various conversations that floated around the front door of the congress. He glared at the windows. The congress contrasted greatly with the ruins surrounding it. 

For him, who had lived most of his life at shelters and abandoned buildings, seeing how important rich people lived made him uncomfortable, angry. Most of them were so focused on the war, that they forgot that normal people also died from hunger, because of natural disasters or because a building collapsed on them. He grimaced. 

“Hey, we’re gonna take a look around,” said Lavi and Allen jumped when his hand fell on his shoulder. He tilted his head back, because the other redhead was too tall. And he wasn’t short. He was of average height for a 15 year old, thank you very much. “You comin’?”

Allen pondered for a few seconds, before shrugging and nodding with a soft smile. 

“Sure.” It would be a good idea, just in case they got into trouble. The people from Manchester seemed peaceful for what he’d seen, but he hadn’t been at the same time as a meeting, so there could always be surprises. 

“Okay, then, where can we go?” asked Lavi and he looked pointedly at Allen. He frowned and he whisked a few red bangs out of his eyes. 

“Why are you asking me?” he asked. “I haven’t been here for long. Only a week.”

“Really?” The girl blinked, surprised, and then smiled widely. “You move around the town like you know it by heart, though.”

“Well, I have experience finding my way around new places,” explained Allen, nervously scratching his head and messing his auburn hair further. 

“You travel all around too?” asked Lavi, an excited grin on his face. 

“Yeah,” he replied and then looked the redhead up and down, frowning slightly. “You do too?”

“Yep,” chirped the older boy. Allen looked around, chose a random direction and started walking, the other two following him without complaining. “I’ve been traveling basically all my life. With gramps. We’re something like… Historians, you could say.”

A thought nagged at the back of his mind and he scratched his head again, trying to focus on the conversation and ignore that feeling of knowing something but not being aware of what his own mind wanted him to realize. 

“Ah, geez, traveling sounds so interesting. I’ve always followed my brother around to his meetings, so I don’t know that much about the world… It’s frustrating.” He could hear Lenalee’s voice, heavy with envy but uncertain, as if she didn’t know if she should wish for it. 

Allen rubbed between his eyes when the floor wavered and his confused thoughts clouded the clear ones and suddenly he didn’t know anything, until some kind of switch was turned on and the nagging thought came to the front, strong and clear and  _ it made sense _ **.**

_ Bookmen. They’re Bookmen. They record the hidden history.  _

“Allen?”

There was a hand on his shoulder and Allen flinched so hard that his back hit Lavi when he turned and would have almost pushed the other redhead to the ground, if Lenalee hadn’t grabbed his arm in a strong grip and turned him around. 

“Ah, I’m so sorry, young man,” said a kind voice from behind him and Allen whipped around, coming face to face with an adult man, with frizzy grey hair and horn-rimmed glasses. “You just reminded me of someone. There aren’t a lot of redheads these days.”

“Ah, it’s...okay,” said Allen in a soft voice, almost too soft. He was still disoriented and his hand came back up to rub at his temples, eyes thoughtful. Then he paused. “Who did I remind you of, sir?”

“Ah, well, I had a… comrade. When I was studying,” explained the older man. His eyes, dark and surrounded by wrinkles, moved to Lavi and his smile became wider. “Two redheads in the same group… I was hoping to be lucky, yet it seems I didn’t find him.” Allen twitched. He sure hoped he wasn’t talking about Cross. He didn’t say anything about it, just in case the reason he was looking for that someone was because of… debts. The older man looked at them thoughtfully. “Does someone of you know this area? Or maybe they know where to obtain reliable information?”

Allen could feel Lavi looking at him and he moved his hand away from his forehead. He didn’t know why so many people had come to him to guide them. Was that what happened when you surrounded yourself with other people? It was weird.

“That would be me,” he said and smiled uncertainly. The adult seemed friendly enough, but it really depended on what kind of information he was searching for. He coughed lightly. “What kind of information are you searching for?”

“Ah, that wouldn’t be me, see,” said the man and he gestured to his back. Allen tilted his body to the side, curious and alert, and he didn’t relax when he saw a bulky and dark-skinned man, side by side with another, younger and with long black hair in a ponytail with a not so friendly expression in his face. Why? Because  _ they _ gave him the same exact feeling as the other two behind him. “One of my sons, you see, was friends with another young boy. But that boy disappeared some years ago.”

“I see,” murmured Allen and lowered his head. Then, it was unlikely that that boy was still alive. And, from the glare that the other boy sent them, he knew that too. Allen was surprised to see that he hadn’t given up, even though some part of him told him that it was impossible for the other man to do so. 

“Then, we’ll be happy to help,” said immediately the girl in the group. Allen whipped his head around to face her and he regretted it a second later when a wave of dizziness hit him like a train. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment, before looking back at the other group. 

“We’ll help, yeah,” he said with a smile that he hoped wasn’t as weak and tired as he felt it was. The black-haired boy seemed to huff, before moving to them and nodding to the other man. He smiled and Allen wondered if that was what a father was like. 

“We’ll meet each other… on the congress? If that’s alright with you, Yuu,” said the man. The other boy only nodded. 

The other two walked down the street, away from them, and Allen turned to the other boy, eyes guarded, just in case. Lenalee seemed much more enthusiastic and approached him immediately. Allen wondered if it was because she had felt the same he did. Nobody said anything, though, so he kept quiet. Maybe they would talk about it later, when they knew each other better and knew for sure that the other asian man was trustworthy.  

“My name’s Lenalee, that’s Lavi and that’s Allen,” introduced the girl with a kind smile. The boy only stared at her with stoic eyes, arms crossed and back straight. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Yuu.”

The boy bristled and his eyes became sharper than before. Allen took a cautious step towards Lenalee, eyes focused on the other boy, and he could see Lavi doing the same from the other side. This situation could turn bad in a matter of mere seconds and he wasn’t about to let it happen just in front of his eyes. Ah, hell, why did he think that he could trust him just because of that damn feeling?

“Don’t call me that,” said the black-haired boy with gritted teeth. Allen paused immediately and forced his shoulders to relax. “My name’s Kanda. And  _ only _ that for you.”

There was silence between them, until Lenalee shrugged and said a soft “okay”. Lavi and Allen relaxed completely and Allen sighed. Too many emotions that day and his head still hurt because of whatever that weird thought was. He didn’t even know that word before, what were ‘Bookmen’? He could always ask Lavi, see if it made sense to him, but years surviving in that destroyed world taught him to stay quiet with people he wasn’t familiar with. Even if it felt like he knew that person.

“Okay, Allen, you are the expert here,” said Lavi with a good-natured smile and gestured for Allen to lead the way again. He frowned at him, because, yeah, he’d been the one to say that he knew where to find information (and it was true) but certainly a historian would be able to do the same, right? 

Nevertheless, he started to walk to the hotel, to his apartment and, finally, to the darkest part of town. Lavi didn’t seem to mind, as he had been there the day before, but Kanda seemed tense and alert, and Lenalee was looking around with unease. Well, at least they didn’t seem scared. That would only attract more problems. It was better to act as though you knew what you were doing, with confidence, because people usually gave you more information. 

Allen looked around, trying to find someone who looked as though they might know something. They didn’t have that much time. Lenalee had to meet up with Komui at lunch-time and, when Allen checked his phone, he huffed when he saw that they only had an hour to search around. It was a long walk to the congress from there, after all, and it wasn’t wise to hitch a ride. In the cities, hitching a ride was unthinkable, because no one would pick you up and, most importantly, you could be shunned, thought to be a poor weakling from the shelters. Hitching a ride in a town was risky, as you couldn’t be sure that the kind person who had picked you up wasn’t a criminal or murderer or rapist, and maybe, just maybe, your body wouldn’t be found ever again. 

“Oh, who are you searching for?” asked a young man, with thick glasses and curly dark hair when Allen approached a… mafia boss? He wasn’t sure. They were playing a game of Poker and the guy just had to hear them. 

Allen looked at Kanda, and the boy shrugged and described the person for the tenth time in the time they’d been there. Asian features, black hair and eyes and, the most important detail, a scar running through the bridge of his nose. 

“Do you think they’re siblings?” mumbled Lavi, who had shuffled to his side while Kanda talked. Allen frowned. Then he shrugged. It wasn’t his place. 

“Oh, I think I know him,” said the man and Allen focused on him, frowning behind the asian man. What a coincidence. But, when he locked eyes with the stranger, a chill went through his whole body and he froze, eyes wide. He shuddered, and a cold feeling spread through him, because those eyes that had been dark just moments before were now a fierce golden.  _ Just like in my dream. _

“Do you know where he is?” asked Kanda, violently, and Allen couldn’t stop him, tell him that you needed to be polite if you wanted to get valuable information out of someone. His legs were weak, he had crossed his arms on his chest, in a useless attempt to feel secure. Those golden eyes were still ingrained in his mind.

“Ah, I don’t know where he is exactly,” said the man with a lopsided smirk and Kanda seemed to seethe. “But I know that he’s working for someone. And, let me tell you, when you start working for  _ them _ … You can’t escape.”

Kanda lunged for the man, demanding him to tell him where his friend (Alma, he said) was, but Lavi and Lenalee rushed to him and grabbed his arms, trying to calm him down. Allen stayed by the side, trying to get a hold of himself, because goddamnit, the past two days had been a mess, hadn’t they? And he was so tired and shaken, the golden eyes were still there, haunting him, mocking him, and he just wanted everything to make sense in his life. 

Then he made a grave mistake, raising his head and meeting the other man’s eyes, calm and amused, he hadn’t moved an inch, even with the threat of the asian man beating him for information. His breath itched. He was pretty sure that those eyes weren’t his mind playing tricks on him, because he could see clear as day how they glowed, as if they were promising him eternal pain and suffering and… 

And they were back to dark when the man blinked, smiled politely like Allen always had, and stood up to leave. The mafia men asked him where he was going, told him that the game hadn’t ended yet, but the man ignored them and, when he turned the corner, Allen’s legs gave up under him and he fell heavily on the ground. 

He asked himself, over and over again, who that man was, tried to make sense of his raging thoughts but only made himself even more confused. He raised his hands to his face, hid his eyes behind them, ignoring just how much his hands shook. Golden eyes, just like the ones in his dream, but where the dream’s eyes were furious and hurt and seemed like all rationality was gone from them, the man’s eyes were fierce and arrogant. Just what was happening? 

“Allen?” asked a worried Lenalee. Slowly, Allen returned to reality. He could hear Lavi trying to talk Kanda into calming down and, at the same time, apologize for the ruckus to the mafia men. When Allen moved his hands away from his face and untangled his fingers from his red hair, he saw the girl crouched in front of him, a frown clear on her face. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“It’s… nothing,” mumbled Allen and accepted her hand to stand back up. She looked unconvinced, and opened her mouth to speak, but Lavi interrupted them.

“Guys, we should go back to the congress,” said the other redhead with a smile too practiced. Allen just noticed. It was similar to his. “Lenalee needs to meet up with Komui and the meeting should finish in a little while.”

“Yeah,” agreed Allen and looked pointedly to Lenalee, shaking his head slightly, a small and tired smile on his face, “we should get going.”

Kanda was still in a foul mood, but Lenalee started chattering with him while they walked to the border between the dark part of town and the residential area, asking him where he was from and with whom he traveled with. Allen could feel Lavi’s eye locked on him, but he ignored him, ignored all of them, trying to get his thoughts to stop going a mile per hour.

“Allen, are you really okay?” asked Lavi when they were nearing the town centre. They only needed to go across some ruins, and then turn to the left, if Allen remembered correctly, and- “You seem really off.”

“It’s o-” said Allen, tired and with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, but, before he could finish, a scream ripped through the area. The group tensed and fell silent. Another scream. Allen gulped. Please, let it not be an Akuma, please…

“Oh, shit,” hissed Lavi and he grabbed his arm, flinging him to the side. Allen was about to ask what was going, but then he saw someone running towards them. Oh, that was not someone. At least, not anymore. “That’s totally a Skeleton, guys!”

“A Skeleton?” yelled Lenalee, panicked, starting to run beside them. Allen noticed how fast she was. She was already in the lead. 

“Just what we needed,” growled Kanda. 

There was a shot, and the four of them seemed to make the same decision, because all of them rolled through the rubble until they were safely behind some ruins. There was another scream of pain, a ‘thud’ and silence. Then the four of them tensed when there were fast steps towards them. 

“We need to do something,” growled Lavi and started looking around. 

“What?” asked Lenalee, hugging herself with trembling hands. Allen grimaced, but he knew what was coming. 

“We have to kill it,” said Kanda, without a hint of hesitation. He reached out and took a rusty piece of metal from under a pile of rocks. Lenalee bit her lip, unsure. Allen sighed softly and sagged. Not this again. Kanda glared at him. “What? Too chicken to kill a simple Skeleton?”

“Skeletons are humans,” said Allen in a low voice. He saw Lenalee twitch. “I’m not a murderer.”

“Then, would you leave us to die?” snapped Kanda, dark eyes ablaze with fury. Allen frowned at him, mouth set in a firm line. What did he know about him? “Would you die yourself, because of that way of thinking?”

“Skeletons are humans, yes, but  _ they _ attach a metal spine to them, to control them,” explained Lavi, with his grim eye focused on the figure stumbling towards them. He looked back at Allen, a shaky smile on his face. “I know how you feel, buddy, but even if you wanted to save them, you’d have to tear that piece away from them. You would destroy their nerves. They would be paralyzed from the neck down… if they somehow managed to survive through the pain, which… is basically impossible.”

Allen bit his lip. Yeah, he knew that. God, he knew that. It wasn’t the first time he had seen a Skeleton. It wasn’t the first time he’d had to fight one. Still, it hurt. To think that he would have to take somebody’s life… it disgusted him. He didn’t have the right to do that, did he? Then again, something always pushed him forward. He had to live, right? Wasn’t that what Cross had said. To keep living, keep kicking. It was as that old clown said, ‘keep walking’...

_ No, that wasn’t right. _

He’d only known one clown and he didn’t say anything like that. Then, why…?

“Will you fight?” asked Kanda and he shoved a pipe in his arms. Allen blinked, cleared his thoughts, but still, he faltered, before sighing and nodding.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve done this, you know,” he said, almost bitterly. Lavi gave him an apologetic smile, but he shook his head. 

Kanda huffed and moved to peek over the rock they were using as hiding spot. Lenalee took a deep breath and moved to the other side, searching around the rubble. When Allen and Lavi looked at her, confused, she pointed to the Skeleton. 

They stayed low, alert and immobile behind the rocks, all three clutching metal bars and pipes. Lenalee was still searching around the ruins behind them, but the last time Allen glanced at her, she had found a piece of metal that resembled a blade. Allen wondered what she wanted to do with it, before Kanda growled that the Skeleton was near and the three of them got into position.

The strategy was simple, really, maybe too simple. But, they’d had only a few minutes to organize themselves. So, when the Skeleton came to view for them, they lunged without hesitation. 

Allen could feel the familiar rush of adrenaline course through him. He swung his pipe to the Skeleton’s head, but he (he was a man, in his late forties and Allen didn’t want to acknowledge anything more) caught it and managed to drag him to the side and, if his balance hadn’t been as good as it was, he’d probably have fallen to the ground. Kanda was the one to hit him in the head after that and Lavi managed to block the punch he aimed at him. 

From behind him, Allen could see the metal parts sticking on his back, his raw skin and blood that became black the closer it got to the metal pieces. It was macabre, a sight that would have scared him and given him nightmares for months if he wasn’t as used to see it as he was. Unfortunately, Skeletons were common, more so in towns and shelters. Easy prey. Akuma where usually sighted in cities. Because of that, the so-called Exorcists were usually seen in those cities. 

Allen managed to lunge forward and dodge the kick aimed at his face, hitting the Skeleton’s leg and nearly tipping him over. He cursed when he didn’t. Kanda shouted something and Lavi grabbed his arm, dragged him a few steps to the side, just in time to see Lenalee go out of their hiding spot, spinning the same blade he’d seen moments before around, tied with a long black metal thread. Skillfully, she threw it to the Skeleton and, with some help from Kanda, the weight of the blade made it so that the strong thread immobilized the Skeleton. 

Allen and Lavi lurched forward and made quick work of the thread, tying it around the Skeletons body and managing to get his arms against his sides. Allen grimaced when he saw the long metal claws on his hands, bloodied with black. They didn’t only put the metal spine, they’d given him claws, and they ripped his skin, his bone, he could see it.

Kanda was fast and his wrench collided painfully with the Skeleton’s nape. The metal piece digged even more and the Skeleton made a gurgling sound, before falling limp on the ground. Allen quickly averted his eyes. It was never easy to do that, killing a human, a enemy with human skin that was just too far gone.

_ Rest in peace. _

“Lenalee, that was pretty cool,” said Lavi with an upbeat smile. Kanda clicked his tongue and Allen threw the pipe to the side. “Good job, team!”

“We should get going,” said Allen and looked at his phone. He was extremely careful not to look at the Skeleton. Cross always said that it only made him weak, but it was already bad enough that he had killed someone (enemy or not). “We’re already late.”

“Oh, I hope my brother doesn’t make a scene,” sighed Lenalee and Allen almost smiled when he saw how the girl did the same as him, refusing to look at the Skeleton, even when she had to walk by its side. She made a wide arch around it.

“Overprotective much?” laughed Lavi and Allen felt better by the second, seeing them react similar to him. Lavi left the pipe on the ground, looking briefly at the Skeleton with a grim expression and tired eyes. 

“A bit,” smiled Lenalee. Lavi laughed again and they started walking towards Allen. 

Kanda was not far behind, and Allen’s expression softened somewhat when even Kanda, who he’d somehow thought that was more than ready to kill the Skeleton, lowered his head and closed his eyes for a moment next to the Skeleton’s body, in a clear sign of respect and regret. 

“By the way, Kanda,” called Lenalee when they were by the hotel. They would reach the congress in a matter of minutes. The asian man looked at her and Allen wondered silently what the girl was going to ask him. “Do you… do you feel something weird when… with us?”

Kanda frowned and Allen sighed softly. Yeah, that. Honestly, he was somewhat expecting to wake up at some point to find out that it had been all a dream. It was really improbable, though. Still, that many emotions in one day… it wasn’t healthy and really, he was pretty sure that he’d had enough for quite some time. He hoped that Cross would hurry up so they could leave that place behind and go to another place, where strange hallucinations didn’t haunt him day and night.

“So, you can feel it too?” asked the man, finally. Allen could see the glass building already. 

“Do you know something about it?” asked Allen, but Kanda shook his head. He sighed. 

When they got to the front steps of the building, they could see Komui talking with another man. He was old, really old, it was rare to see someone that old. He was short, with grey hair in a ponytail and dark circles under his eyes. Lavi cheered by their side and ran to them, shouting something about a panda. Allen blinked, confused, before walking to them cautiously.

“Lenalee!” shouted Komui, a wide smile on his face, and Lenalee let him hug her with a patient smile. 

“Where the hell had you been, idiot?” yelled the old man and, to the others’ surprise, drop-kicked Lavi on the head. 

“Hey, you were the one who walked away, talking with everyone and ignoring my calls,” yelled back the redhead, but the old man had already decided to ignore him and, instead, looked to Allen and Kanda. Allen saw a flash of something like recognition, before the old man’s eyes became guarded.

“My name is Bookman,” he said simply and he frowned, displeased. “I’m sorry you had to deal with my idiot apprentice. Lavi, who are they?”

“Ah, this is Kanda, that’s Lenalee,” said Lavi, pointing to each of them, “and that’s Allen. He basically saved my ass when I was lost.”

“I must thank you, then,” said the old man and inclined his head respectfully, making Allen even more nervous than he was. 

“I-it’s okay,” he stuttered and smiled, unsure. 

Komui had left Lenalee alone at last and Kanda seemed to look into the distance. When Allen tilted his head to see, he recognized the frizzy hair of Kanda’s father. Komui got closer to them, Lenalee close behind, smiling softly. 

“Thank you for taking care of her,” he said with a smile that turned too wide. Allen shivered. “But, if I find out you’ve done something to her, I’ll-”

“Okay, Komui, we need to go,” interrupted Lenalee with a forced smile, grabbing Komui’s arm in a vice-like grip. Allen smiled nervously. Okay, Komui was definitely creepy. 

“Oh, wait, you’re all going already?” asked Lavi, a childish frown on his face. All of them nodded. 

Allen really needed to get home (he had a really long walk home, because he refused to pass by the dead Skeleton) and sleep for the rest of the day. He sure hoped that the weird dreams and nightmares and hallucinations left him alone. He was about ready to pass out from exhaustion.

“We are going too, idiot,” said Bookman from behind him. Lavi made an indignant sound and fished out his phone. And a weird machine. 

“Okay, okay, but I need a photo with you three,” said the redhead, an excited glint in his green eye. Kanda seemed to huff, Lenalee laughed and Allen sighed but smiled. 

Komui was the one who took the photo with the red phone. Lavi flung his arms around Allen and Lenalee’s shoulders (Komui glared at him but made no movement, maybe because of his sister’s own gaze) and Lenalee dragged Kanda closer, grabbing his arm in a strong grip. 

When the photo was taken, Lavi made a loud ‘whoop’ that left Allen’s ears ringing and lunged for his phone. He attached the weird machine to it and Allen hid his yawn behind his hand, watching as the machine came to life and printed four photos. He was impressed. He’d never seen something like that before. Well, he’d seen really old cameras in some museums, cameras that printed black and white photos, but nothing like what the other redhead had in his hands.

“Here, here, one photo each,” he sang and gave one to each of them. Allen nearly laughed at Kanda’s confused expression, but he could see a fond glint in his dark eyes. He accepted his with a warm smile. 

“I dunno if we’ll meet each other again,” said Lavi, moving his hands in a dramatic gesture that made Allen and Lenalee laugh and Kanda roll his eyes, “but I’ll keep an eye out for you all.”

“I hope we meet again,” said Lenalee and she turned on her heels with a soft “bye guys”, walking calmly to the car where her brother was gesturing madly for her to return. Allen sighed.

Kanda didn’t say anything, but he did nod at them, before turning and walking over to where his father was sitting on a bench. The man hugged him tightly and Allen could almost hear Kanda clicking his tongue and snapping at him to ‘leave him alone’.

Lavi was talking about something with Bookman and Allen blinked, his eyelids heavy with fatigue. Yeah, he could feel it again, that weird feeling of longing, as if he had parted with someone who had been friends with him for all his life. It was confusing, but really, he’d been in that state for nearly a day straight. It helped that none of them knew what was happening. 

“Well, it was nice to meet’cha, Allen,” said Lavi and Allen shook slightly his head to clear his head for the hundredth time that day. He moved away some red hair from his eyes and smiled at the other redhead. “See ya.”

With that, Lavi turned on his heels and walked over to Bookman, telling him something in another language Allen didn’t recognize, before both started to walk. Yeah, Bookman also felt familiar, but not the same kind of familiar as the other three teenagers, or… the same kind of familiar as that man that made him hallucinate golden eyes. Yeah… not the same, but not bad either…

“Lavi, wait!” he yelled and the redhead paused and turned to him, surprised and confused, as Allen sprinted down the street to them. He gasped for breath, and his sight wavered in a useless attempt to tell him to ‘take it easy’. He grabbed Lavi’s arm. “Do you know what Bookmen are?”

Lavi’s green eye went wide, mouth slightly open in surprise, and Allen thought briefly if he’d said something wrong, if he'd insulted him somehow. He looked back at Bookman, and was even more surprised when the old man had the exact same expression as his apprentice. Allen gulped. Before he could say something more, Lavi seemed to come to himself again.

“A-ah, yeah, I know what they are,” he said and he laughed nervously. Allen frowned. “Eh, that’s what gramps and I are. Bookmen. We are Bookmen. We record the hidden history.” Then Lavi frowned. “Where did you hear that?”

“O-oh, I dunno, around, I guess,” said Allen, quickly, maybe too quickly, and he was sure that the two  _ Bookmen _ had noticed. He smiled, but his usual smile wavered and he took a step back. “Don’t let me keep you here, go on, I’m sure you have a long way ahead of you.”

Lavi stared at him for a few seconds more, before grinning and waving at him again, turning on his heels and walking down the street again. Bookman stayed behind for a moment, dark eyes boring into Allen and, when their eyes met, he could feel the man searching for something in his grey gaze, before Allen closed his eyes and turned around. 

He didn’t look back, didn’t dwell more in those strange feelings. He looked down at the photo and couldn’t help but smile through his exhaustion. He didn’t realize that his gaze turned nostalgic, too mature for his age. 

Yeah, he hoped that they would meet again. Alive.

Extra:

He closed the door with a huff and sighed. He rubbed his eyes, tired. Ah, he was so tired, he wanted to sleep for, maybe, three days straight? Yeah, it sounded wonderful. 

He paused by the kitchen, covering a yawn behind his hand, and looked at the fridge. He blinked. Then he smiled. 

Well, at least his fridge was still working.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos for Allen's fridge!  
> Tumblr: thesilversky99  
> Twitter: irisinally


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